RESIDENTS and staff at a Banstead care home are appealing for donations towards a replacement for a stolen minibus described as their “lifeline to the world”.

The 16-seater white Mercedes bus was taken from the driveway outside the Roseland home in Garratts Lane on August 26.

The 80 elderly residents at the home have been unable to enjoy their regular trips to the shops, theatres and garden centres since the theft, and more importantly they now find it difficult to get to the doctor's surgery and the hospital.

The charity’s chairman, Mike Stevens, said: “The bus gave people a chance to live a more normal life outside of these four walls.

“They need to be kept active and the bus provided one significant element in achieving that.

“It [the theft] has taken away an important part of their day-to-day life.”

He said he was optimistic about raising the £50,000 needed for a new bus by holding a range of events including coffee mornings, jumble sales and Christmas parties, and is appealing to residents and businesses in Surrey to help out.

“I am hoping that local people seeing the situation will help out,” he said.

“We have been in the area helping people and their families for 50 years, we are dedicated to them.

“We want people to spare whatever they can. It’s amazing how even small donations add up.

“These people who stole the bus have damaged the lives of 80 people.

“Now we have to put the thing back in place.”

"Horrified"

One resident at the home, Pam Bonser, felt so affected by the theft that she wrote a poem about it.

Miss Bonser said she was “horrified” when she heard the bus had been stolen.

“One is speechless at a moment like that, you can’t take it in," she said.

“It’s about occupying the mind. It does make a great difference to people who unwind their lives when they get to a care home.

“They need stimulation and when they’ve got it, they keep going so much longer.”

She said she had written short poems all her life and felt she needed to express how she felt.

“Suddenly one afternoon a few words came into my mind.

“The line that started it was ‘Our lifeline to the world’. It’s far more than just a bus to us.”